Category Musical Passion
Le Streghe, by Paganini
Paganini’s Opus 8, Le Streghe, is the source of The Witch’s Dance, my new song. A Wikipedia article on his fifth concerto notes that the melody also makes an appearance in that piece’s first movement – I must admit that while somewhat familiar with the fifth concerto, as I’ve started playing the theme I utterly […]
Musical Me: An Anniversary
One year ago today I started Musical Me. It was a Monday, a normal day off for me, and I remember sitting on the couch pining over the loss of our cat Mischka, which had occurred just over a week before. I was also bored, and trying to come up with something to write about. […]
Nostalgia and Ignorance
The CDs I ordered from my 20th high school reunion (which I did not attend) came last week. As I listened to them yesterday morning, I knew every single song. For some it took me a moment to remember, for several I had to look up the artist. But there they are, every single one […]
Paganini Is Next
In yesterday’s lesson I made it through the rest of Schumann’s The Two Grenadiers, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s the first piece I’ve learned that contains a key change – the song (and yes, it’s really a song) starts in D minor and changes to D major a little over halfway through. D […]
Fall Fling – Mutter does Vivaldi
Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the best in the world. I just bought two tickets to see her at Symphony Center on November 19 – she’s coming to Chicago with a group she runs called the Mutter Virtuosi – an ensemble of younger musicians who graduated from her foundation in Munich with whom she tours. […]
Musical Gender Bending, a Romp, and Teaching Girls to Read
“Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler of the universe who has not created me a woman.” – from the requisite daily prayers for Orthodox Jewish men Our hero, Yentl, was born to a religious scholar father in early 20th century Poland who believed and recited these old Hebrew words faithfully. Of course to this […]
Opinions – Everybody’s Got ‘Em
Teacher made a comment in my lesson last week about the fact that I seem to like all the songs she brings my way via the Suzuki series. Indeed it’s true – where violin music is concerned at this stage of my playing I seem to have relatively undeveloped tastes as it pertains to what […]
Two Young Men
Stefan Jackiw Roman Kim Over the long weekend I spent a lot of time listening to violin music, and I came across a couple more prodigies that I’m happy […]
Fiddler on the Roof
Last night Michael and I went with a friend to a production of Fiddler on the Roof, put on by Light Opera Works in Evanston. Teacher is in the orchestra for the show – she got us a deal on tickets – so the excursion had the distinction of being the first time I’ve ever […]
Catalogs and Needs
I have everything I need to play the violin. Back when I started this project I wrote a couple of posts about violin stuff and, while there’s a lot of it, I’ve got it covered. But that doesn’t stop me from looking. My purchase of Suzuki Book Two has apparently landed me on the mailing list of […]
Ryan Libel 